2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Quest for human-specific brain cell through single-cell transcriptome analysis
| Project/Area Number |
19H03313
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 45050:Physical anthropology-related
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| Research Institution | Center for Novel Science Initatives, National Institutes of Natural Sciences |
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Principal Investigator |
Go Yasuhiro 大学共同利用機関法人自然科学研究機構(新分野創成センター、アストロバイオロジーセンター、生命創成探究, 生命創成探究センター, 特任准教授 (50377123)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | 進化 / ヒト / 類人猿 / 脳 / シングルセル / 遺伝子発現 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
To verify the existence of human-specific brain cells responsible for “humanness,” we performed single-cell comparative transcriptome analyses using human and ape postmortem brains. Single nuclei expression data from approximately 5,000 to 9,000 nuclei were obtained from the postmortem brains of two humans, one chimpanzee, and one gorilla. A total of 28 cell types were identified. Among them, inhibitory neurons, which have been reported as a human-specific cell type in a previous study, were found to be commonly present in the three species. Although the number of samples and nuclei analyzed was insufficient, our result suggests that the composition of cell types may differ among the three species.
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| Free Research Field |
神経ゲノム科学
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
ヒトをヒトたらしめる分子基盤の解明に次世代シーケンサーを代表としたゲノム研究は大きな成果をあげてきたが，残された大きな課題のひとつは，真にヒトらしさをつかさどるヒト特異的脳細胞が存在するかという点にある．本研究では，ヒトとヒトに最も近縁な類人猿の死後脳を用いて1細胞レベルの遺伝子発現解析を行うことで，真にヒト固有の脳細胞が存在するかを明らかにする点において，ヒトの進化，特に脳の進化に寄与した質的な違いがヒトと類人猿の間にあるかどうかを検証する点において学術的意義に加えて社会的な意義も非常に高いと考えられる．
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